Background

Ms. Tracye McDaniel currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Greater Houston Partnership, a post that she began in June 2006. In this capacity, McDaniel has oversight of the daily operations at the Partnership, which was formed in 1989 from a merger with the Houston Chamber of Commerce, Houston Economic Development Council and Houston World Trade Association. The Partnership is the fifth largest business alliance in the nation representing ... 10 counties and nearly 2,000 businesses in the greater Houston area. If the Greater Houston Partnership were a Fortune 500 company, the $1.92 trillion in combined annual sales and other receipts of the firms represented by the Partnership’s board of directors would exceed the gross domestic products of all but the top six nations in the world. This figure is also equivalent to approximately one-fifth of the U.S. GDP. Firms and organizations represented on the Partnership’s board directly account for one in every 12 of the Houston metropolitan area’s more than 2.5 million jobs. In addition to McDaniel’s overall operational duties for the Partnership, she is charged with overseeing activities for the organization’s $40 million capital fundraising campaign, Opportunity Houston. Opportunity Houston is an aggressive five-year marketing program that will generate leads for economic development organizations throughout the 10-county region. It is the direct result of the Partnerships visionary, 10-year strategic plan, which aims to create 600,000 new jobs; attract $60 billion in new capital investment; and increase foreign trade to $225 billion in the Houston region. Previously, McDaniel served as executive director for the Office of the Governor Economic Development and Tourism Division (EDT), spearheading economic development and tourism operations for the State of Texas. During McDaniel’s leadership, Texas saw the creation of 16,506 net new jobs and a capital investment of more than $4.3 billion. She also served as chief executive officer for the Texas Economic Development Corporation TexasOn Program, a public/private partnership marketing initiative to generate job leads by actively promoting Texas as a business location. McDaniel has more than 23 years of executive and senior management experience in tourism and business development, convention sales, national and international trade development, destination marketing, advertising and public relations. During her tenure with the State of Texas, she was a part of three gubernatorial administrations: Gov. Ann Richards, Gov. George W. Bush and Gov. Rick Perry. Under her helm as Tourism Director of Texas, the state became the second most-visited destination in America. She garnered such honors as one of the "Most Influential African-Americans in the Meetings/Tourism Industry" and one of the "Most Powerful Women in Travel," both from Black Meetings & Tourism magazine. McDaniel holds leadership positions in numerous professional and industry organizations. Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed Ms. McDaniel to serve on the Advisory Board of Economic Development Stakeholders in April, 2008, the Texas Economic Development Corporation (Austin, Texas), and as a regent for Texas Southern University’s Board of Regents (Houston, Texas) in October, 2007. She also serves as chair-emeritus of the board for the Capital City African-American Chamber of Commerce (Austin, Texas); honorary chairwoman of the capital fundraising campaign for the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum (Houston, Texas); board member of the Houston Greeters; board member of Center for Houston’s Future; and board member for the United Way of Houston. As the founding president of the Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce (TAAACC), McDaniel helped create more than 20 chambers of commerce nationally and throughout Texas. Her commitment to community service has been recently demonstrated by Texas Diversity Magazine honoring her as one of the "2008 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Texas" and Houston Woman Magazine's honor of "One of Houston's Most Influential Women." A native of Waco, Texas, Ms. McDaniel is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.

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